Business View - January 2016 13
equipment help consumers yield high performance
due to their excellent stiffness and high strength.
Moreover, they also give full control to the user over
the equipment and provide them with a high level
of flexibility. Carbon fiber is emerging as a popular
replacement for traditional metal, wood, and steel
in modern sports equipment.
For the purpose of analysis, the sports equipment
market is segmented into ball sports, adventure
sports, fitness equipment, and golf equipment. Ball
sports dominated the market during 2015, with a
market share of 24 percent. The global popularity of
sporting events such as cricket, basketball, and foot-
ball is the key growth driver for this segment. The
ball sports equipment market is expected to reach
a market value of around US $20 billion by the end
of 2020.
The sector is also segmented by retail format, i.e.
specialty and sports shops, department and dis-
count stores, and online retail. Specialty and sports
shops accounted for 46 percent of the market share
during 2015. The convenience provided by this distri-
bution channel and its ability to stock popular brands
have been driving the growth of this segment.
Geographical segmentation and analysis of the
sports equipment market divide the globe thusly:
APAC (Asian-Pacific), Europe, North America, and
ROW (Rest of World). North America accounted for
around 38 percent of the market share during 2015,
and is expected to reach revenue of around US $31
billion by the end of 2020.
The global sports equipment market is highly frag-
mented due to the presence of numerous small and
large vendors. With rising competition, the industry
has been witnessing consolidation wherein smaller
entities are being acquired by or merged with ma-
jor players. The leading vendors in the market are
–Adidas, Amer Sports, Jarden, Mizuno, Nike, and
Under Armour. Other prominent vendors in the mar-
ket include ASICS, Billabong International, Callaway
Golf C, Columbia Sport, Daiwa Seiko, Dunlop Sports
Group Americas, New Balance, Puma SE, Quicksil-
ver, and Yonex.
